IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Niall Esler, Shane Martin, Laura Whitson and Coleen Wegmann, Walkers
Walkers is a leading international firm that provides legal, corporate and fiduciary services to global corporations, financial institutions, capital markets participants and investment fund managers. Clients include Fortune 100 and FTSE 100 companies, and some of the most innovative firms and institutions across the financial markets. The firm has ten offices, in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Is - lands, Dubai, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jersey, London and Singapore. It regularly advises innovative
fintech firms on legal and regulatory considerations arising from offering their products to the Irish and European market, often for the first time and in novel areas. It leverages its expertise in multiple areas of regulated financial services when assessing fintech proposals to provide clear mapping of product fea - tures that could trigger regulatory issues. It has also assisted start-up clients in engaging with the Central Bank of Ireland’s Innovation Hub, which is only open to innovative services.
Authors
Niall Esler is a partner and head of the regulatory group in Walkers’ Ireland office and a member of the Walkers fintech group. He specialises in Irish and EU financial services regulation, and advises domestic and international payment/e-money institutions, crypto- asset service providers and issuers, credit institutions, investment firms, asset managers, funds and other institutions. Niall’s areas of focus include advising on payment services, e-money, AML, banking, consumer lending, crypto-asset services and investment services, from both a prudential and conduct of business perspective. He is a member of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, the Compliance Institute in Ireland and the Blockchain Ireland Legal Working Group on Digital Assets.
Laura Whitson is based in Walkers’ Ireland office, where she is an associate in the regulatory group. She advises on Irish and EU financial regulation and compliance, acting for domestic and international credit
institutions, investment firms, international payment/ e-money institutions, crypto-asset service providers and issuers, asset managers and other institutions.
Coleen Wegmann is an associate in the regulatory group in Walkers’ Ireland office. She advises regulated fintech entities on the applicable regulatory regimes, including MiCAR, PSD2/the E-Money Directive, MiFID
and banking requirements. Prior to joining Walkers, Coleen worked as Head of Legal and Compliance for an international crypto start-up, where she advised on various digital asset regulatory regimes. She is a member of Blockchain Ireland’s Legal & Regulatory Working Group and the Crypto Valley Associations’ Regulatory Working Group.
Shane Martin is a partner in the regulatory group in Walkers’ Ireland office. He has significant experience in regulatory risk and compliance in domestic and international financial services across the banking, funds,
asset management, payment services and credit union sectors. Prior to joining Walkers, Shane worked for a number of years for the Central Bank of Ireland, where he managed a specialist AML supervision team. He is a member of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, the Compliance Institute in Ireland and the FATF Private Sector Consultative Forum.
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